Rhumatalogist

[jimmym40]

Anyone know of a specialist in RA?

Request info please.

[bunta71]

Just moved here a couple months ago and my Dr. In Reno gave me the number of one here that was supposedly all American board certified and all that. Haven't been to see him yet as I am having a hard time with the whole Pharmaceutical scam and the bad side effects I'm having from the prednisone and methotrexate, so I'm going to try to find a naturopath or someone with a few alternative ideas. RA is really a problem Let me know what you think...Dr.. Worawit Louthren,M.D. Chiang Mai University 053 946449 or 053 357 959 PM me for his E-mail address

[Ulysses G.]

Don't be so smug.

I have had Rhumatoid Arthritis all over my body since I was 25 years old and I have gone to both medical and alternative Doctors. There are sincere people on both sides of the fence, but far more nuts and cheats on the alternative side. Buyer beware!

[jimmym40]

U.G. - May I ask what medications you are taking to help relieve your pain?

[Ulysses G.]

I have gone from taking pharmaceutical drugs to taking Glucosine, MSM and Chrondoitin and it seems to work for me, so far, but it doesn't work for every case or everybody.

The problem with RA is it goes into and out of remission and sometimes you think that you have found a "cure" when you haven't.

In my case, Glucosine, MSM and Chrondoitin seem to reduce the pain so it is bearable - more so than the pharmaceutical drugs - but nothing like a normal person. I am still in constant pain, but I can walk and function somewhat normally.

Edited November 8, 2007 by Ulysses G.

[bunta71]

Mr Smug here....I recently read Kevin Trudeau's book "Natural Cures" and it opened my eyes up a little more. The book is or was #1 on the NY bestsellers list recently. Many non-U.S. folks may not be aware of it, but certainly an eye-opener for those that "trust" anything that comes out of a doctors mouth. After having quite a bit of success with the Glucosimine/Chondroiton myself in earlier stages of my RA ,I've been told by regular doctors that any success must be in my head and that anything that does not come from the pharma. industry is dangerous/useless/not proven,etc. I don't mean to discount all M.D.'s...but many are truly brainwashed when it comes to alternatives. Open minds are better able to judge different perspectives in my humble opinion, but I could be wrong...I frequently am.I do still feed my RA the Glucosimine,etc because it is better to eat at that rather than my joints which now have almost nothing left and now I'm facing both knee total replacements and one shoulder. The side effects from my meds are horrendous and I can barely walk at all anymore. I hate it

[jimmym40]

If it's okay with the mods, I'll keep my comments on this thread for bunta71 and U.G. and all others interested in "our" comments and this may provide valuable information for those suffering from this disease.

For bunta71: Sorry to hear how bad shape you are in. My wife is also in bad shape, can hardly walk at times and in pain somewhere 24 hours a day. Joint replacement(s) are out of the question because of other blood disease - she may not recover from surgery. She's been taking prednisone and naproxen for about the last 10-12 years and has tried all the other RA meds. Her RA has never gone in remission. All the other latest meds, the side affects made her feel worse and had to discontinue after a short period of time. She does take glucosomine and I believe it does help a bit.

For UG: Glad to hear that your RA is/goes in to remission at times. RA is such a debilitating disease and not many people are aware that it is a "blood" disease that affects all the joints in the body.

Do either of you know of anyone that is taking currently or in the past ARAVA?

Just trying to keep this thread going so that possibly we all can learn something from one another.

We were able to stock up on my wife's meds prior to moving here to CM and have about a 6 month supply on hand.

I would like to know where is the best place to buy these types of meds? Especially the glucosomine, only have about a months supply left.

We most likely will not do a concerted effort in a search for another rhumatologist because she's been thru all the treatments possible. We know of all the blood tests required on a periodic basis and are able to get that done at McCormick with no problems.

That's all for now.

[Ulysses G.]

I would like to know where is the best place to buy these types of meds? Especially the glucosomine, only have about a months supply left.

I have a friend bring the GNC formula from America that has Glucosine, MSM and Chrondoitin in the right preportions in large bottles and I throw the tablets in a glass of water the night before so I don't have to swallow them.

The price is minute compared to the same formula in Thailand (from other companies that get it in somehow) , but hasn't passed the Thai FDA, so GNC here can't sell it anyway. GNC DOES sell Glucosomine alone, but not the other two ingredients.

I think that you can get SUPER cheap deals on this stuff if you can research and buy it in the US. For example, the GNC formula would give you a whole giant second bottle for an extra dollar if you bought the first one at the regular price, but they seem to have stopped now.

[bunta71]

A little more stuff...just for self education and whatever. There is a doctor Wallach who is pretty knowledgable.So much that he is a Nobel Laureate which means that he was a nominee for the Nobel Peace prize in medicine but did not win the prize. He is not someone standing on a street corner telling stories. He has done over 17,000 autopsies mostly on animals to determine causes and effects of death and disease. He claims that most diseases are caused by certain vitamin, mineral, and amino acid deficiencies . He studied the handful of peoples aaround the world where ages of 100-120 are fairly common and discovered the one common denominator was they consumed glacial till...milky looking water that were packed with the necessary minerals that were basically farmed out of most of the worlds farmlands and through various reasons never replaced or managed.

Dr. Wallach also worked for mutual of Omaha's Marlin Perkins on the"wild Kingdom series" of years past. He also explains about the three types of vitamins as follows:

The average vitamin that people buy are the tablets such as "Centrum",etc. Most of these pass through the body un-disolved for the most part and are cleaned out of the screens daily in the civilized worlds' sewage treatment plants...by the wheelbarrow load. Now if you were to crush the tablets before ingesting them,it would be better BUT and this is large...the human body can only assimilate about 10% of what is claimed is available in the tablets. Translation...crush them uo,eat them and if it says 2000mg of whatever your body will get about 200mg worth into your system.Now,the next better step is:

Chelated vitamins which are usually in a powder form and your body assimilates about an average 45%...an improvement but ...the next step up is:

Plant-derived colloidal vitamins and minerals with which we can assimilate 90%+ and are what these few cultures which have the common longevity naturally acquire in their diets and milky water. Through this guys tapes and radio show are where I learned about some of these basics. He also speaks of the benefits of Glucosamine,etc and Gelatin which hasn't been mentioned in this thread and is vital. Many of the more successful mixes of Glucosamine/Chondroitin,etc contain gelatin which builds the matrix for the Glucosamine,and other stuff to embed or stick to. Through the early years of my disease's progression I had phenominal success with Knox "NutraJoint" plus glucosamine. Doubt it's available here but in every supermaket in America for about $20-$25 for a quart sized tub of it. Takes about 2-3 months for it to take effect. Getting a little long winded here but for some this is priceless info...so please bear with me.

Of couse after about seven years of his radio show,etc people convinced Dr. Wallach to market some of these things and he finally has. Again, not a plug but meant to help here... For about $200 a month he sells what he calls the "pig pack" which is a conglomeration of his Vitamins,etc designed for arthritis sufferers. Called pip pack because he claims the gelatin made from pigs has much more of the "matrix" mentioned earlier. $200 is pretty spendy but... Also GNC in America now sells the liquid plant derived minerals but as Mr not so smug indicates it is included in the "not available in Thailand category. Whew I need to let my fingers and brain take a break. PM me for more info

[Ulysses G.]

That is certainly interesting information, but over the last 25 years, I have read lots and lots of it by very impresive people, and tried a lot of different things that I felt might really work, but I still have RA. That is why I advise people to be careful of accepting the alternative therapies too easily.

[bunta71]

Yeah I hear you on that. The nutrajoint really helped me previously and that is firsthand. It never cured the RA and I've never heard of anyone credible claiming they could although as you imply there are many out there who seem to think they can. As I say when one is nominated for the Nobel prize there has to be some credibility. The guy also wrote some interesting books...the first of which you may have heard of "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" which can be summed up with....the average doctor hes a lifespan in the U.S. of 53 years while the average American lifespan is now in the range of 75-79 years.So you are better off at times listening to your local tuk-tuk driver when it comes to questions of longevity. A little of my own humor attempted here

[Ulysses G.]

The guy also wrote some interesting books...the first of which you may have heard of "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" which can be summed up with....the average doctor hes a lifespan in the U.S. of 53 years while the average American lifespan is now in the range of 75-79 years.So you are better off at times listening to your local tuk-tuk driver when it comes to questions of longevity. A little of my own humor attempted here

I think that is a pretty good line.

Concerning the Nobel Prize. I don't think that vitaman C cures the common cold as Linus Pauling declared.

He is one of the reasons that I am so sceptical of all this stuff.

[bartender100]

I have RA, and switched from Metharexate(sp)which seems to be the drug of choise in the UK,and makes you feel like hel_l, to Litozin,a rosehip extract,and have had a almost a complete recovery,if you have not tried these a urge you to give them a go,not sure if you can buy them in Thailand but you can buy them online.They worked quickly for me as well

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=200787

Read this artical.

[bunta71]

Bartender...I'll read the link buy curious is it some "natural" or Pharmeceutical ??? Yeah Linus Pauling dying from cancer go figure. I've become a skeptic myself after being fooled when I thought different people were sooo credible Good point...Ulysses! another note my cousin who does the geneology thing claims old general grant was my great great great grandfather. not sure on how many greats

[jimmym40]

Thanks all - some valuable info here.

Making me a believer of the non-pharma type drugs.

I'm going to do more research and buy some more glucosomine, etc for the wife.

[SwaziBird]

You're probably aware of this - but just in case you weren't, the latest information is that one needs not less than 1500 mg per day of Glucosamine.

By the way, my wife's orthopaedic specialist in Australia suggested that this was the only preventative that was being suggested as effective.

" The jury was still out" , was his comment on the use of fish oil, also popular as a preventative .

I have no idea of the import duties imposed by the Thai customs department, but these products can be purchased on-line, relatively cheaply ( compared to local shop prices ), to which, of course, must be added mailing charges.

Chok Dee !

Edited November 10, 2007 by SwaziBird

[bunta71]

Yeah...I purchased a colon cleansing kit from the U.S. a month ago and went through hel_l with our friendly Thai customs people who gathered around it and stared at it for a week and then wanted everything from my passport to another $90 and I send send it back so I finally got it but who wants to go through that with every purchase from civilization...Bartender have you had any problems recieving yours or have you sent online yet. Sounds so good I can't wait to get some in my system

[Ulysses G.]

" The jury was still out" , was his comment on the use of fish oil, also popular as a preventative .

My personal opinion is that fish oil - as a food, not a pill or supplement - is equally as effective as glucosomine. I used to make sure to eat it several times a week in the US where I could get good cuts of inexpensive salmon, but salmon has always been expensive here until the last few years and I have a hard time forcing myself to eat stinky old sardines even though they are quite cheap.

Edited November 10, 2007 by Ulysses G.

[Robroy]

I had RA (spondylitis to be exact) 11 years ago - ESR (inflammation reading) of 43; agonising pain; couldn't even turn over in bed; toes & fingers swollen up like balloons.

Prognosis from the rheumatologist: crippledom.

I ignored the doctor - a good, lifelong habit - and set about researching diet.

Cut out hard drinking, smoking, dairy and gluten grains. Stopped eating any processed foods - anything in a packet or can (and thus sugars, hard fats, preservatives, colorants, and flavour enhancers).

Exercised more. Took nutrients including fish oil (MAX-EPA) and herb teas such as Devil's Claw & Sarsparilla.

Wasn't totally fanatical, but kept to most of the above most of the time.

Got therapy (via a book by Gillian Riley) on containing desires for 'bad' things.

Today:

Symptoms: zero (& I don't mean 1%)

ESR: 1 (lowest possible score)

Damage to spine & joints: minimal (I got it early)